From California to Melbourne…
In contemporary Australian culture at this time, the Californian Spanish Colonial Revival influence was very strong, encouraged by publicity of the glamorous homes of Hollywood movie stars, who favoured the style. An amalgalm of the ealier Spanish Colonial architecture of the 16th century and Mission Revival (itself an early 20th century interpretation of the 18th and 19th century missionaries built predominantly around California by Spanish immigrants), this style, with vernacular variations, became known in Australia as Spanish Mission.
Which is where this beautiful home comes into the story. If you were a stylish young woman building your own house in 1930 in Melbourne, wouldn’t you also want to incorporate the latest in elegant, glamorous style into your new home?
Luckily for posterity, that’s exactly what she did.
So when the current owners purchased the property, they found themselves owning not just a beautiful home in need of restoration and TLC, but a house which is a fascinating part of Melbourne’s architectural history.
Arches in the Kitchen
The arched exterior detail was also picked up in the interior joinery - with routed arches to the doors and drawers of the Tasmanian Oak in the kitchen, pantry, scullery and dish room.
Blue and Caramel tiles set the tone
We were delighted to find that despite the various layers of renovations which had occured over the decades, the original kitchen hearth tiles, in a pale caramel and blue colour scheme, were still there.
These tiles were retained (shown above) and together with the original dark caramel and blue tiles in the formal dining room, formed the basis for the new colour scheme throughout the house.
The mantelpiece and chimney breast were retiled in a mix of Japanese glazed mosaics in mottled colours of caramel and blue, whilst the dark stained skirtings and paler Tasmanian Oak cupboards played with the theme of pale and burnt caramel tones.
At just over four metres, the island bench links the old and new sections of the house, by running across the old timber floor and the new polished concrete floor. At the junction, a solid piece of Tasmanian Oak timber runs around and through the island bench, to celebrate the connection.
The new kitchen is served by a dedicated scullery, pantry and dish room, creating plenty of spaces for display of much-loved treasured items. Flanked by a dining room on one side and a casual living space on the other, the kitchen is now the heart of the home.
Guest Bathroom
The main bathroom became the guest bathroom, and was a chance to introduce some elegant early 1930’s pattern and detail in the tiling.
Taking the cues of grass green and gold from the lead light windows, we introduced a band of green crackled tiles, with a diamond-patterned gold glass tile insert (which echo the diamonds in the windows), set in an upper band of sand coloured crackled tiles.
We extended the timber dado rail beyond its original window placement to also run across the length of the long wall. And included new corbels to match. By placing an inset mirror above that, the room not only feels more spacious, but the dramatic effect of reflecting the gold tiled pattern in the shower creates a sense of theatre and playfulness.
BEFORE AND AFTER
After…
Now that the house has been lavished with attention from top to toe, it’s once more a very loved, and very treasured home.
And I have a sneaky suspicion that the original owner would be very appreciative of the new owners’ dedication to preserving and rejuvenating this stunning Spanish Mission home as a place of beauty and calm.